About 13,000 A-level students in Northern Ireland have been finding out their grades. The A-level results show a reduction in the number of top grades but once again Northern Ireland is doing better than England and Wales with girls continuing to score higher than boys. This year, more schools than ever allowed students to find out their results online from 07:00 BST on Thursday. Some A-level students gave their reaction to BBC News Online.

Catherine Doherty - Foyle and Londonderry College

"I got three As, in business studies, English literature and geography," she said.

"It's good to get away. My fees will be £9,000 a year but I was thinking I won't have to pay it back until I earn more than £21,000 a year but it's in the future really so I don't have to think about it too much. I just wanted to go to Liverpool."

Emelio Chiquito - Foyle and Londonderry College

"I got an A in biology, and A in history and a C in chemistry," he said.

"Queens is a fantastic university but when the fees came into it, it was a no brainer.

"£3,200 versus £9,500 really sealed it for me as well as the bonus that I can bring my washing down to my mum at weekends."

Ella McEwan - Lagan College, Belfast

Image caption
Ella McEwan chose to come into her college to get her A-level results

"I wanted to get all my results together because I could only get two of them online so I just waited to come to school instead because I knew I was into my university. I wasn't so concerned about my results," she said.

Conor Gormally - Lagan College, Belfast

"I got an A in art and an A in drama and a B in music and I'm going to East Fifteen Acting School to do a foundation course in acting," he said.

"My results are better than I was expecting. I thought I would have got lower in some of them but yeah, I'm really happy."